Mercenary Tao
, later known as General Tao, is a character in the manga and anime Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z. He is the Master Shen's younger brother and a highly skilled assassin-for-hire. He is very expensive as he normally charges ten billion Zeni per kill, but gave Commander Red a 20th anniversary discount in five billion Zeni. Mercenary Tao has been known by a number of names in the various English versions of the series. "General Tao" in the later FUNimation dub of Dragon Ball Z, and "Mercenary Tao" in FUNimation's earlier dub of the Dragon Ball anime. Mercenary Tao's Japanese seiyū is Chikao Ohtsuka, and in the FUNimation dub he is voiced by Kent Williams. Mercenary Tao has an uncanny resemblance to Hong Kong actor Yuan Wah. Biography Mercenary Tao is responsible for the death of General Blue, whom he kills with only his tongue. He is sent by the Red Ribbon Army to assassinate Goku and retrieve the Dragon Balls. He catches Goku in the Land of Korin. He easily kills Bora, who had previously held off the Red Ribbon Army single handedly. Goku provides more of a challenge, but Mercenary Tao defeats him with the Dodon Ray technique. Goku is saved only by the Dragon Ball in his shirt. Mercenary Tao returns three days later to retrieve the Dragon Ball. Goku, however, received special training during the three days, and proves to be far too strong for Mercenary Tao. Tao tries to kill Goku with a grenade, but Goku deflects it back at him, seemingly killing the assassin. However, Mercenary Tao is rebuilt as a cyborg by his older brother, and competes in the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, brutally defeating Chiaotzu. He fights Tien next, and cuts his chest with a knife. Tien defeats him shortly after. In the anime, Mercenary Tao makes a later appearance in DBZ during the Cell Games Saga as a henchman for a rich gangster, who has hired him to gather the Dragon Balls so he may wish for immortality to protect himself from Cell. Goku shows up to gather the two Mercenary Tao has collected, but Goku is disappointed at himself for having nothing to offer Mercenary Tao in return. The assassin then poses a challenge to Goku: If Goku can disassemble three complex puzzle rings by dawn the following day, then he will be awarded the Dragon Balls. If he cannot, however, Goku must surrender the ones he has with him. Mercenary Tao then offers to take Goku's jacket (which contained Goku's gathered Dragon Balls) while Goku works on the puzzles, and while Goku was distracted with the puzzle rings, Mercenary Tao steals Goku's Dragon Balls and drove far away throughout the night with the gangsters. After Goku solves the puzzle rings, he simply uses Instant Transmission to find Mercenary Tao and the gangsters. The naive Goku was unaware there was any ill-will on the part of Mercenary Tao, and is given the Dragon Balls without any resistance. Mercenary Tao is somewhat afraid of Goku because he thought he would kill him again. He was also seen scared in an earlier appearance, when he met Goku's son, Gohan. He has never been seen since then and was presumably killed when Kid Buu blew up the earth. Video Games Mercenary Tao was featured as a playable character in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi and its sequel Dragon Ball Z:Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and returned as a playable character in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. He is also a boss during the Dragon Ball quest in "Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II" in which he can use his special attack, Dodon Ray. Category:Humans Category:Villains